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Father's Day (TV story)
Father's Day 'is the eighth episode of the first series of ''Doctor Who. It was written by Paul Cornell, directed by Joe Ahearne and featured Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor and Billie Piper as Rose Tyler. Overview To be added Synopsis The Doctor and Rose return to 1987 and the scene of her father's tragic accident. But when she interferes with the course of events, the monstrous Reapers are unleashed upon the world, and a wedding day turns into a massacre. Even the Doctor is powerless as the human race is devoured. Plot The episode begins with Rose giving an opening narration about her father, Peter Alan Tyler and when he died. In a flashback, Rose's mother Jackie calls a young Rose into her bedroom to look at pictures of her father. She talks about the day he died, on the day of a friend's wedding. In the TARDIS, Rose asks the Doctor if they can go and visit her father when he was still alive. Despite his reservations, the Doctor complies but gives her the warning to be careful. They arrive in London in time to watch Jackie and Pete's wedding, wherein Pete gets Jackie's name wrong during the vows. In the flashback, Jackie talks about his death at the hands of a hit-and-run driver and her wish for someone to have been there for him when he died. After the wedding, Rose asks if they could go to the day he died so he wouldn't die alone and the Doctor pilots the TARDIS to 7 November 1987. When they arrive, they wander to the corner of the road where he dies. They watch as Pete arrives in his car with the wedding present he was collecting when the other car comes out of nowhere and strikes him down. The Doctor suggests the Rose go to him, but Rose can't bring herself to and they move away; as Jackie had told her as a child, by the time the ambulance arrived, Pete was dead. Distraught at what she'd just seen but still not wishing him to die alone, Rose pleads with the Doctor for another try. Using the TARDIS to travel back to a few minutes before they arrived, the Doctor and Rose watch their past selves stand at the road and wait for Pete's car. The Doctor warns her to wait until their other selves had gone before she goes to her dad and that he won't make her do anything she doesn't want to but this is the last time they can be there. However, on impulse, Rose races out of hiding as Pete gets out and pulls him clear of the car. The Doctor looks on, stunned and shocked as their other selves disappear. Rose is shocked by this development and delightedly tells Pete that she'll be attending Stuart Hoskins and Sarah Clarke's wedding as well and he offers her and the indignant Doctor a lift. Elsewhere, a creature flies around the city. Arriving in the Tylers' flat, Rose just listens to Pete's stories joyously and looks around the place, but the Doctor just glares at her angrily. He accuses her of planning this from the moment she heard that the TARDIS was a time machine and that she's just another person interested in what the universe can do for them. Rose insists there was no plan, that she just saw a chance to stop it and did so, and questions why it is all right for the Doctor to save people but not for her to save her father. He explains that he knows what he is doing while she does not; the presence of two sets of them made that location a vulnerable point. They argue, more and more heatedly, Rose claiming that the Doctor isn't the most important person in her life, the Doctor responds by demanding the TARDIS key back and leaves, telling her she's getting left behind. Rose hands over the key but tells the Doctor she knows he'll never leave without her. Pete looks out of the kitchen at this point, thinking it a lover's quarrel. Pete and she then go to the wedding. Outside, more of the creatures appear around the city watching various people which then suddenly disappear. At the church, Stuart's father attempts to try and talk his son out of going through with the wedding, but he just ignores him, but he soon senses something is wrong. The Doctor walks back to the TARDIS; he momentarily senses something is wrong but turns back to the ship. He places the key in the door, which unlocks too easily and swings open to reveal that the TARDIS is now just an ordinary police box. Realising the danger, the Doctor rushes back to find Rose. On the way to the wedding, Pete talks about his occupation, which Rose realises that a lot of what Jackie had told her about Pete as a child were lies for her benefit. Unseen by the pair, the car that nearly killed Pete before drives past the and disappears. Jackie arrives at the wedding with the bride Sarah; Rose and Pete pull up as the car reappears heading towards them. Rose warns Pete, instinctively calling him 'dad', and they miss the car, which again vanishes. Jackie strolls up and starts arguing with Pete in front of Rose, who continues to acknowledge the lies she had been told when she was little when it becomes clear that their marriage was falling apart with Jackie under the assumption that Pete was being unfaithful. At a local playpark, a young Mickey is playing on the swings when his friends start vanishing around him; while Rose watches Jackie and Pete talk more amicably, Mickey rushes around the corner shouting about monsters. At the other end of the street, the Doctor rounds a bend and shouts to Rose to get in the church. Above Rose's head, a giant bat-like creature appears, revealing a giant mouth inside it's torso. After the Doctor manages to save Rose when it dives at her, more of the creatures start appearing around the church. While the Doctor ushers everybody into the church, one of the Reapers swoops down and completely consumes Stuart's dad; everybody hurries into the church before any more can attack. Looking around the church for weaknesses, the Doctor explains that the creatures came about from a wound in time and that they've arrived to sterilise it be consuming everything within. While people fail to run to safety outside, the Doctor keeps watch from the inside and spots the hit-and-run driver appear and vanish again in the distance but doesn't tell Pete it's significance. Pete approaches Rose about her claims that this is her fault and deduces from the facts that Rose is his infant daughter from the future. Stuart and Sarah approach the Doctor and asks if he can save them; they explain their lives together with him and the preparation of their incoming baby and the Doctor assures them that he'll try and save them. Rose talks with an awe-struck Pete in private about the nature of her arrival. When he asks what he's like in the future, Rose struggles to answer; before the head back, Rose asks to keep her background a secret. Back in the main hall, the Doctor watches baby Rose; he warns Rose not to touch the baby or else cause a paradox that may let the Reapers in. He quietly confides in her that he's got no idea how to resolve the situation, that the Time Lords could have stopped it, but there is no way out. Feeling something hot in the Doctor's jacket, however, Rose pulls out his TARDIS key, which is glowing, revealing that it's still connected to the TARDIS and that once he's brought that back, he can fix everything. Later, when Pete asks about the future again, Rose lies and tells him of a future in which he didn't die and was there for her growing up, but Pete catches on that she's not being honest. At that point, the Doctor manages to power the key up and it starts working to bring the TARDIS back. While the process goes on, the Doctor tells Rose that when time is repaired, everybody will forget the events and the alteration to the timeline will remain, but Pete chimes in that he knows that alteration is that he isn't dead. Rose takes the blame but Pete insists it's his responsibility as her dad. Jackie overhears this and demands answers from Pete in disgust; in the argument, he passes Rose's infant self to her adult counterpart and a paradox is caused, allowing a Reaper to enter. The Doctor stands against it to defend everybody, but it descends on him and consumes him, to Rose's horror. It then proceeds to chase everybody around the church until it flies into the materialising TARDIS. The second they touch, the box disappears and the Reaper with it, but the key drops to the ground, completely inert. Rose picks up the key in distress and Pete comforts her as the Reapers continue battering on the church, getting closer and closer to break in. Later, Pete looks outside and sees the car that should have killed him appear and disappear and finally understands it's presence. He approaches Rose in the main hall and tells her that the Doctor didn't tell her the alternative way out because he tried to keep Pete alive for her, the other way being Pete accepting his death by the car. Rose sobs at the idea and Jackie finally sees her daughter, grown-up; saying his goodbyes to Jackie and his adult daughter, Pete takes the wedding vase and rushes out of the church to meet the car. Rushing into the road, Pete accepts his fate and the car strikes him; the Reapers disapparate and the Doctor is restored along with everybody else. On his instruction, Rose rushes to her dying father as everybody comes outside to see the tragedy. The episode cuts back to the flashback to reveal that the future had been altered still; as the Doctor had said, everybody had forgotten the events of the day, Pete's death was not considered a hit and run and he was not alone when he passed. As the Doctor and Rose return to the TARDIS hand-in-hand, Rose closes the episode with her same opening narration. Cast * Doctor Who - Christopher Eccleston * Rose Tyler - Billie Piper * Jackie Tyler - Camille Coduri * Pete Tyler - Shaun Dingwall * Registrar - Robert Barton * Young Rose - Julia Joyce * Stuart - Christopher Llewellyn * Sonny - Frank Rozelaar-Green * Sarah - Natalie Jones * Bev - Eirlys Bellin * Suzie - Rhian James * Young Mickey - Casey Dyer Crew To be added References To be added Story Notes To be added Continuity To be added Home video and audio releases To be added External Links * Official ''Father's Day'' page on '''Doctor Who Website